Mens Sitting Team Falls to Croatia at ICC

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 5, 2012) - The U.S. Men's Sitting Volleyball Team (2-1) fell to Croatia, 25-16, 25-17, 25-22 on Monday in its third match at the Intercontinental Cup in Cairo, Egypt.

Despite the loss, the U.S. Men's Sitting Team still has a chance to qualify for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. The United States will face host Egypt on Tuesday, March 6 at 11:30 a.m. (EET).

Head Coach Bill Hamiter (Bethany, Okla.) started Eric Duda (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Edmond, Okla.) and J Dee Marinko (Newcastle, Okla.) at outside hitter, Dan Regan (St. Louis, Mo./Edmond, Okla.) and Roderick Green (West Monroe, La./Edmond, Okla.) at middle blocker, James Stuck (New Kensington, Pa./Edmond, Okla.) and Charles Swearingen (Gulfport, Miss./Edmond, Okla.) at right side and Ed O'Neil (Amherst, Mass./Edmond, Okla.) at libero. Hugo Storer (Greensboro, N.C.) was substituted for Swearingen in sets one and two and started for Swearingen in the third set.

Duda was the leading scorer with 13 points from 12 blocks and a kill. Stuck and Marinko both posted seven points with Stuck connecting on five kills and a team high two blocks while Markino connected on six kills and posted one block. Regan contributed four points off of two blocks and two kills and Swearingen charted three points from two kills and a block. Storer and Green each charted three points with Storer connected on two kills and a block and Green on three kills.

Croatia had 15 blocks compared to six from Team USA.

"Croatia outplayed us at the net and we had trouble executing even the easiest of plays," Eric Duda said. "We just couldn't pull it together."

The 14 teams will be competing in two separate tournaments during their play, one for Paralympic qualification and one for the Intercontinental Cup (ICC). Matches will only count for the London qualification if they are against non-qualified opponents. On the contrary, all matches leading up to the London qualification semis and finals, even those against Egypt, Iran and Brazil (which have already qualified for the Paralympics) will count toward the Intercontinental Cup standings. Each tournament will have its own set of winners and results.

The last time the U.S. Men’s Sitting Team qualified for the Paralympic Games was in 2004 when it defeated Brazil at the Parapan American Games in Argentina for a bid to the Athens Paralympics.

2012 U.S. Men's Sitting Team RosterName (Hometown/Resident athletes at the University of Central Oklahoma are noted)